Microsoft has been quietly killing off a number of Surface devices over the past few years. At first it was the Surface Headphones and Surface Earbuds that started to disappear, then came news of a changed “hardware portfolio” amid 10,000 job cuts at Microsoft in early 2023. A year later, Microsoft then killed off the Surface Duo and ended production of its innovative Surface Studio 2 all-in-one PC. Now, I’m hearing that another Surface device is on the way out.
Sources familiar with Microsoft’s Surface plans tell me that the company stopped production of its Surface Laptop Studio 2 earlier this month. No more units are being produced, and Microsoft is planning to mark the device as end of life in June. I asked Microsoft to comment on the end of life for the Surface Laptop Studio 2, but the company declined to provide a statement.
Microsoft’s official Surface resellers, however, were happy to discuss the future of Microsoft’s folding laptop. “Surface Laptop Studio 2 has reached end of manufacturing and availability of supply will be limited and may vary by market going forward,” confirmed one reseller when I queried about a lack of stock. “Microsoft will continue to support Surface Laptop Studio 2 through driver and firmware updates in accordance with the Surface Driver and Firmware Lifecycle.”
Much like how the Surface Studio reached end of life, there doesn’t appear to be a Surface Laptop Studio 3 on the horizon. That’s a shame because ever since Microsoft hit the Surface 10-year mark in 2022, I’ve been wondering whether the company will continue to innovate in the decade ahead and push PC makers to invest in laptop and tablet designs.
Over the past few years, the future direction of Surface hardware hasn’t been totally clear, especially after former Surface chief Panos Panay departed for Amazon in 2023. Now, it increasingly looks like the future of Surface is all about the simplification of existing product lines.
The two new Surface devices that go on sale next week — the Surface Laptop 13-inch and Surface Pro 12-inch — are just smaller versions of what exists today. Microsoft isn’t experimenting with a whacky new form factor here or trying to push Surface in a radical new direction. These devices are safe bets, while acknowledging the effort required to develop them.
These two devices are symbolic of the future direction for Surface, and I’d be amazed if Microsoft suddenly surprises everyone with something like a dual-screen Surface Duo or an all-in-one Surface Studio anytime soon.
This simplification is evident if you visit Microsoft’s Surface website, where the only two choices of devices you’re presented with are the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. If you dig a little deeper, you’ll still find the Surface Go 4 on sale for businesses, nearly two years after it was first announced alongside the Surface Laptop Studio 2.
I understand the Surface Go 4 is still being produced and stock levels are healthy at resellers. We may even eventually see a new Arm-powered Surface Go device in the future, particularly because it’s a popular device thanks to the smaller form factor and pricing.
The Surface Go 4 was originally supposed to ship with an Arm-powered Qualcomm processor according to Windows Central, before Microsoft landed on a traditional Intel chip instead. Any early signs of a Surface Go 4 successor may now come from Qualcomm. Microsoft has been following Qualcomm’s chip roadmap with its latest Surface devices, introducing its Copilot Plus PC initiative alongside the launch of the Snapdragon X Elite last year, and then making Windows laptops cheaper after the debut of the eight-core Snapdragon X Plus launched at CES earlier this year.
Qualcomm typically hosts its Snapdragon summit in the fall, and I’m curious to see if the chipmaker has another Snapdragon X series variant for a Surface Go 5. Qualcomm originally teased an entry-level chip for entry-level laptops last year, which looked like it might have six cores, but it went on to only launch its mid-level 8-core Snapdragon X Plus in January.
Beyond the simplification of its Surface lineup, we might well see Microsoft experiment further with devices for AI assistants in the future, much like how it tried to make dedicated Cortana hardware in the past. Surface and Windows chief Pavan Davuluri hinted at that when I spoke to him in October. “The big difference now for us vs. the past is the agent experience itself is complete enough, meaningful enough, that it gives us permission to look at other form factors and devices,” Davuluri said. “I think it will free up the ability to innovate in hardware and come out with purpose-built hardware.”
Microsoft has already started using the “Hey, Copilot!” wake word to activate Copilot Voice in Windows 11, which reminds me a lot of “Hey, Cortana!” in Windows 10. I’m not so sure that Microsoft is ready to compete with Alexa again, but Copilot is already a far better digital assistant than Cortana ever was, even if everyone uses ChatGPT instead.
I’m just hoping that Microsoft’s fascination with AI will still mean there is room for Surface experimentation in the future. Like I said last week, Surface has become known for pushing the boundaries of Windows laptops, not just smaller iterative designs. Everyone copied the Surface Pro, including Apple, but it increasingly looks like it’s Lenovo that’s willing to experiment more than Microsoft these days. It’s not a great sign that the Surface Studio and Surface Laptop Studio are seemingly gone, but perhaps — just like the Surface Book — they will pave the way for what’s next.
